Natural Pearls, Basra?

[aspan]

Hello experts, greetings from Saudi Arabia.

I recently acquired two necklaces, claimed to be natural pearls from Basra. Have a look at the pictures. In the first two picures showing the full necklace and a closeup, each pearl is about 11mm and consistently round and good lustre. The second necklace is graded from about 15mm down to about 10mm, not all are perfectly round, and each one is separated by a smaller pearl about 4-5mm.

Can anyone comment from the pictures if these are truely natural and marketd in Basra? Can any lab test for origin and age in addition to testing for natural or cultured and of course its quality in terms of lustre, nacre etc?

I am new to the world of Pearls, but simply love them. Any comments, expert advice etc will be most appreciated.

 

[KarinK]

Hi and welcome asman

I know very little about natural pearls. My first thought is this question to the experts: isn't 11 mm a very large size for a natural pearl? Aspan, with the little I know, I am thinking too that these necklaces must have been very expensive if they are naturally grown (as in not cultivated). What kind of documentation do they come with?

- Karin

 

[aspan]

no document whatsoever, however, I might get these tested either through GIA or the Bahrain Govt Lab.

You are quite right that for "natural" these do seem quite large.

 

[pattye]

Aspan, Welcome,

I would take them immediately to the Bahrain Lab for testing. If these are naturals they are very valuable because of the size alone. It is surprising and somewhat concerning that such strands would be sold without lab documentation, allowing the seller to receive the best price possible.

Here is a reputable website that has natural pearls for sale. http://www.karipearls.com/catalog-natural-arabian-gulf-pearls.html You can see how much smaller the pearls for sale are and how much they cost in comparison to yours.

Please do let us know what you find out.

 

[aspan]

Thanks Pattye

In Saudi Arabia, jewelery gets sold on "trust". If he tells me that these are natural and from Basra, my normal tendency woul be to accept his word (he would be testing his credibility as well!).

You are right though that it is best to get them tested and have a certificate, for future resale value. But from your experieince and the photos I have posted, do these give any indication at all, i.e. natural or cultured etc?

Regards,
aspan

 

[pattye]

Aspan,

I have no hands on experience with Basra pearls at all, only the information available here on the forum and in reference books about pearls. Your strands are absolutely lovely. They appear to be natural color and on temporary strands (?) rather than finished jewelry.

My concern is that cultured pearls from China are widely available now in that size, shape and color for a few hundred dollars, perhaps a bit more for the 11mm round strand. If you truly have natural pearls, they would be worth many tens of thousands and you need to know for certain for insurance purposes and all.

 

[KarinK]

Hi Aspan,

Necklaces such as yours I consider a touchy subject. No doubt quite a lot of money and - as you tell us - personal trust is involved. We do have several experts here on natural pearls and they might contribute but it is very hard sometimes to judge pearls on-line.

What I would recommend is for you to read back in this thread about natural pearls. Look at the pictures posted, do a search on PG for your kind of pearls and start to form your own oppinion while waiting for the lab reports. I'm sure you will enjoy the learning process in any case. Also, please visit the website Pattye suggested and compare prices, size and shape for yourself.

If your pearls are natural it seems to my limited knowledge that they compare to what the queen of England is wearing. I have personally seen the natural pearls of the queen of Denmark excibited and while large they were more irregular than yours.

- Karin

 

[Caitlin]

Did you get these in Saudi Arabia?
In any case, if you are near the Bahrain lab, by all means take them over there- or to the nearest lab in your country. From looking at the photos, I can't rule out that they are natural- especially if the age is not exaggerated.

But for insurance purposes, they are almost irreplaceable if natural and that large. You can show them to an expert like Jeremy Norris, or just get them certified for once and for all. Unless you have a receipt or know who the seller was or other traditional provenance, get them tested. The value, if natural, should be in the stratosphere. Then get them insured.

 

[aspan]

Thanks Caitlin for your thoughts. I will get these tested and will keep the forum informed.

Cheers.

 

[aspan]

Thanks Karin.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I've been looking at these strands for the past couple of days.

These pearls present with natural features, but not without concerns. They appear as mainly off-round with a few semi-baroque and untreated in color, yet highly graded.

In modern times, Basra naturals are among some of the finest and available. That said, they are often elaborately faked or otherwise misidentified.

As others have mentioned, 11mm is considered large and strands with near-matched pieces are exceedingly scarce. A strand of seventy large pearls would have to be selected from a pool of tens of thousands. Even then, most strands from these collections tend to be smaller and graduated. It is possible for some antique strands to be larger and uniform though, which certainly is reflected in the value.

Which brings us to the second strand. While I'm merely thinking in modern terms, it doesn't make sense to combine smaller, exponentially lower valued pearls with premium large ones. Perhaps it's merely a coincidence, but whoever created these strands, undoubtedly had access to large volumes of graded pearls. This might assist in identifying their source.

These definitely merit examination by an objective lab. Perhaps even a second opinion. I'm eager to see the results.

Thank you for sharing these.

 

[aspan]

Thanks Dave.

Would you suggest GIA testing or the lab in Bahrain? In either case getting the full starnd tested is going to be expensive. Advantage with GIA is that they will test upto 3 pearls, for the same price/charges. However, the Bahrain lab is considered to be most technically advanced in the world, and as I understand it (and subject to confirmation) that Bahrain essentially has banned sale of "cultured" pearls.

Cheers,

 

[aspan]

Couple of points I have missed to respond in this thread:
1) the necklacese are in temporary strands. The reason being these are waiting to be jeweled!
2) in the second strand with graded (larger to smaller) pearls, why are the larger ones separated by smaller, inconsequaential and perhaps relatively inexpensive pearls? The reason is that this was quite typical way of storing and waiting to be jeweled, and while in storage, the big ones would not brush against each-other, resulting in a possible loss of lustre etc. The jeweler agrees that these smaller ones will need to be removed once my wife and I have a design in mind for the jeweleray.
3) the pearls in the first strand are reasonably consistent in round shape and their uniformity in size. However, in the second strand, some appear to be baroque and some have lost lustre and shine you would normally expect from such pearls.

Hope this helps.

 

[Caitlin]

That big pearl little pearl design is used to space out the big pearls. That is how mine is made, even though all the pearls are small compared to these.

You should make the choice of where to send the necklace. If you are in the middle east, send it to Bahrain, unless there is a chance it is cultured. If in other countries, it could go to the nearest GIA lab. The point in proving it natural is to then get it appraised and insured if it is real, because it would be very valuable. 11mm pearls in a pinctada radiata is enormous. It would be expected that the largest ones would not be as lustrous as the more average sized ones.

 

[aspan]

Thanks Caitlin

You had mentioned of Jeremy Norris. Can I request his e-mail address or if this is confidential, since you perhaps know him, could you kindly request him to see this thread and the pictures requesting him to comment?

Thanks

 

[pattye]

Aspan mentioned in his first post that the large center pearl is 15mm, and graduates to 10mm, so a number of the pearls on that strand could be even larger than 11mm.

 

[lisa c]

Aaaaah, very lovely pearls, much joy in the wearing no matter the source! As a student and not an expert, I think the first strand is more convincing.

The second strand looks mixed, at least, with some of the larger pearls having the look and harder luster of Chinese CFW. By mixed I'm not referring to the little pearls-big pearls arrangement.

I'm looking fwd to your lab reports! (It's fun to be a student with nothing but knowledge to gain.)

 

[Caitlin]

If you paid over $50,000.00 then they are naturals. If not, they aren't natural. It is the size and roundness that make me second guess. Remember Saudi Arabia is not Bahrain when it comes to pearls and that sounds like such a good story that if those are freshwaters, you got cheated if you paid over A thousand dollars. Maybe 2k if it was a really fancy store. the 2nd grand being for the brand name of the store.

Most often in pearls, you get what you pay for, even if the story has all the romance of all the Arabian Nights mixed in.

I now think the story of their provenance is worthy of Zeide Erskine.

Unless you paid at least $50k, then Lisa is right.

Send them to the GIA. I hear Bahrain smashes cultured pearls ...........at least that's what ZE once said.........

 

[lisa c]

Whoa! Not to Bahrain then! Only a few of the second strand look Chinese to me, but they're still lovely, too lovely to smash. I find the second strand an enigma...Aspan, do you find that many of the pearls in the second strand match the first for color, surface, relative size?

~What if these two strands were once a single, longer necklace? or other variation, parure, what have you? The addition of Chinese CFW would make sense in that context, the need to flesh out a too short strand. I've been reading about famous, missing jewelry, things that've gone missing at the fall of monarchies, regimes, what-not...

Well, that's speculation, and please not to be read as accusing anyone of anything, neither here nor there.

~Caitlin, do you have the ability to split your screen? Could you or someone put the first strand up (aspan's), then put up post #71 of thread Natural Bahraini Pearls, right next to it? I can't do it from my end, but if someone could and then report your impressions back to this thread, wouldn't that be great? After all, we know that Reem's strand is a natural.

Post #71 is a picture of natural gulf pearls with a natural 'red' undertone that Reem posted. Aspan's first strand reminded me of the color of that necklace.

 

[Caitlin]

Jeremy Norris can be Googled. He is a member here under the handle jnorris.